North Carolina Unionists Abandoned by Lincoln

“Kemp Battle gave as clear an analysis as anyone of the situation in North Carolina after the firing on Fort Sumter. He, like [Zebulon] Vance, had been “a violent Union man” before Lincoln’s call for troops. He felt Lincoln’s election was a misfortune, theoretically at least, but other elections would come and with them perhaps fair legislation for the South. He did think the Lincoln administration was wanting in a conciliatory attitude and “should not have declared war against the seceding States, which the call for 75,000 troops amounted to.”

He recalled that President Jackson had refused to use troops to enforce a Supreme Court decision, and the wisdom of his moderation had later been established. When Lincoln issued his call for volunteers, the North Carolina unionists, who had hoped for a cordial hand from the Washington administration, felt ignored and snubbed.

With Northern troops coming down, they had to stand with their own people. Battle explained it thus: “It is better to go out together, even if we are whipped back together. If we do not go with the South we shall certainly have civil war at home. That will be much worse than fighting the North.”

(Zeb Vance, Champion of Personal Freedom, pp. 104-105)

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North Carolina Unionists Abandoned by Lincoln